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Tag Archive for San Francisco

Born during the Gold Rush days of the Barbary Coast, the Pisco Punch is one of the most important cocktails in the history of San Francisco. It was imbibed by Mark Twain and a real-life Tom Sawyer over 100 years ago at Duncan Nicol’s Bank Exchange bar on Montgomery Street where the Transamerica Pyramid now stands. Kipling compared its color to the “glory of a tropical dawn” and “red clouds of sunset.” And from the late 1800’s, through the Great Earthquake of 1906, until the beginning of Prohibition, the Pisco Punch defined the culinary identity of San Francisco.Read more →

Imagine that you are a mixologist in the late 1800’s and just sampled some of Duncan Nicol’s famous Pisco Punch at the Bank Exchange on Montgomery Street in San Francisco. You are inspired and want to create a Pisco cocktail that pays homage to the Pisco Punch and to San Francisco. But you want it to be different and meaningful.… Read more →

The first Pisco Trail Pop-up took place at The Hub in SF, where I took over the kitchen for a couple of hours to slow cook a traditional Afro-Peruvian black bean pudding with anise, cloves, and sesame seeds. It was a real pleasure to share one of my favorite desserts with everyone there, and I look forward to coming back… Read more →

Not everybody loves chocolate, but those who do, really ♥ chocolate. So when I learned of a local artisan chocolatiers tour in San Francisco, I practically ran there. The event was hosted by Epicuring and featured three chocolatiers: Au Coeur des Chocolats, Tell Tale Preserves, and Poco Dolce. All morning we were treated to different hand-made creations and I noticed… Read more →

Last week, I went out to 7 bars searching for the best Pisco Sour in San Francisco. Over 7 nights of drinking I learned that what was old is new again and that there are many ways to make a classic cocktail even better. Read more →